


Imperial Nuptials

by lazywhaler



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Farce, Humor, Jessamine Lives AU, Multi, Post-Low Chaos Ending, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-08-19 02:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8186851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazywhaler/pseuds/lazywhaler
Summary: Ten years after the events of Dishonored, Dunwall is finally putting the horrors of the plague behind it. Empress Jessamine Kaldwin decides that marrying her Lord Protector in a lavish royal wedding is the perfect way to mark the beginning of a new golden age. What she doesn't realise is that her various guests, including a certain remorseful ex-assassin, a long-lost sister, and assorted eccentrics, monarchs and imposters, wrapped up in their own personal dramas might threaten to derail her carefully laid plans.





	1. Prologue: Jessamine Proposes Marriage

"Excellent news, Your Majesty!"  Ada Engels, the Minister for Finance exclaimed, clearly excited. Jessamine did not share his enthusiasm yet. 

"The Treasury reports a twelve per cent increase in its holdings over the past six months!" he enthused. This was indeed excellent news, but Jessamine Kaldwin was an Empress. She couldn't leap from her chair and squeal with delight, while jumping up and down and clapping her hands frantically with a manic glee in her eyes every time she got some good news. Instead, she had to make do with an enigmatic and knowing smile. Also, she was already aware of this little nugget of current affairs.

"Your Majesty, do you realise what this means?" the Minister for Finance inquired with a touch of hysteria, leaning forward in his seat.

Jessamine did know what this meant. She'd studied economics as a girl. Not that you needed a world-class education in economics to comprehend the myriad implications of _Yay, we're not broke anymore!_  


The kind minister took it upon himself to explain it to the her, the Empress. "My Empress, we are now more wealthy than we were before the plague crisis! We have emerged from the shadow it cast on our nation!"

Jessamine didn't consider that last statement to be entirely true, and rightly so, in my opinion. It was true that they were now back on their feet, financially speaking, after the awfulness with the plague. You couldn't argue with the numbers. But as for 'emerging from the shadow it cast'...

It had been slightly over ten years since the first occurrences from the plague. But by ' the plague crisis', the Minister for Finance had been tactfully been alluding to the horrors that followed suit.

At this point, some background information might be helpful, so here it is: Ten years ago, after the plague had ravaged Dunwall for six months, at the behest of the Royal Spymaster, Hiram Burrows, the Empress sent her Royal Protector and secret lover Corvo Attano to seek aid from the other nations of the Empire. During this period, the Spymaster had set into motion a plan to assassinate the Empress. This was especially because she had appointed him to investigate the origins of the rat plague, an appointment that was inconvenient for him because he was the one that started the plague and the consequences of being found out were terrifying.

This conspiracy involved the elites of Dunwall, almost entirely consisting of aristocrats who believed that they would stand to gain from the new regime and the tiny remainder being their helpless servants who had been threatened into being a part of the conspiracy and then blackmailed because they were a part of the conspiracy. 

One maid, however, grew sick of this nonsense and revealed all to the Empress. It was easy enough to corroborate the accusations, as a quick search of Burrows' residence yielded a mountain of evidence pointing to all the conspirators, because of Burrows' compulsive need to keep notes on every meeting that took place. After that, it was quick work executing everyone involved in the conspiracy for treason, sedition, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, conspiring to commit the same and dozens of such charges. The trials were by and large dull affairs, but they always ended with some slimy noble being hauled off to face a firing squad, so it was well-worth the tedium. 

The upper echelons of Dunwall society were utterly transformed. The traitorous aristocrats had been replaced by ones who had always, they assured her, been loyal to the Empire and who were silently grateful for not being important enough to be roped into the conspiracy. Eventually, political stability was assumed again, the Empress' power was not challenged again and she got herself a better Spymaster. 

The plague was not so easily resolved, however, and it took three years for a cure to be developed, and then another two for it to be perfected and by the time all traces of the plague were banished, it had taken seven years and Gristol's finances looked very grim. That is, until Anton Sokolov had discovered a way to harness energy from the flow of the Wrenhaven River, reducing dependence on whale oil and powering the reconstruction of Dunwall. The industries grew again, along with new ones, and eventually Dunwall had enough goods to export and so the trading companies were thriving again. 

And so here we are now, in a cautiously optimistic city, possibly on the cusp of a golden era of prosperity, but haunted by the horrors it had endured. Plenty of buildings were still dilapidated, although they would soon be restored. Plenty of businesses still hadn't reopened, although they would soon find the funds to do so. Plenty of people had lost family and friends, but they would never get them back again. 

The Minister for Finance was still waiting for Jessamine to match his fervour. Instead, as she politely ended their appointment and thanked him for coming, she seemed to be quieter, lost in thought. As he left, he wondered whether he should bring some charts along next time. No one seemed to be comprehending the enormousness of this news.

Once by herself, Jessamine slumped in her chair and flopped her head onto the ornate desk, sighing loudly as she did so. The Minister for Finance had brought her the precise news she'd been expecting, one that gave credence to the plan that she'd been thinking about for a month now...the reasons for not going through with it were becoming fewer and fewer. It wouldn't alienate the aristocracy, not after all the funds she had given them for restoration purposes, along with awarding abandoned estates to those who she deemed loyal to the Empire. The choice of groom wouldn't be exceptionally scandalous anymore, what the decades-long speculation about Emily's parentage. If anything, they should be happy because this would give them some confirmation...And what better way to herald a new golden era than a royal wedding?

She would have to talk to him about it soon...

* * *

That evening, Jessamine, Emily and Corvo were in the residential quarters, having retired there after dinner. Emily was curled up in the armchair by the fireplace, reading. Corvo was on the couch, also with a book in hand, but he was too drowsy to read. Jessamine had ensured that the chefs cooked Corvo's favourite dishes for dinner and Corvo had done justice to the meal, even though he was now suspicious that Jessamine either had some bad news for him, or wanted him to do something for her. Going by past experience, he figured it was the latter. _But maybe,_  he thought, his eyelids drooping again, _maybe this time she just wanted me to have a nice dinner...break the pattern..._  


"Corvo, Emily," Jessamine suddenly announced, after minutes of steeling herself for this "I have something exciting I'd like to tell you." She had a tentative smile on her face. Both Corvo and Emily felt this didn't bode well. Corvo leaned forward. Emily straightened up in her armchair.

"What is it, mother?" Emily asked with some trepidation. 

"I met with Mr Engel today. The Minister for Finance." she added in response to their vacant expressions. "We now have more money than we did ten years ago."

"That's wonderful news..." Corvo mumbled, still struggling to keep awake. He thought the lavish dinner was to celebrate this new economic high and was relieved that it was nothing more.

"No, that's not all," Jessamine said, and Corvo's heart sank "We've fought so hard to stay afloat all these years, and now it finally seems like things will be good again. I believe that this is going to be the beginning of a new era. An era of prosperity and peace. Of power and strength. And what better way to start this era than by pledging myself to the man I love? Corvo, I want to ask you this in front of our daughter: Will you do me the honour of marrying me?"

Corvo wasn't feeling drowsy anymore. Emily laughed softly and beathily, as one does in shock sometimes. 

"So, Corvo," Jessamine asked gently "what do you say?" she smiled faintly.

Corvo did not return the smile. He was feeling more emotions simultaneously than he'd felt in a very long time. This doesn't go well with having to make important life-decisions.

"I'm...this is...this is too much for me right now. I'm going to need some time to think about all of this." He got up and left the room, not before hastily saying goodnight to Emily.

Which left Jessamine standing in the middle of the room, bewildered and upset. She had expected him to react in that manner, but she hadn't expected it to upset her as much as it was now.

" _I_ think it's a wonderful idea, mother." Emily supplied before getting back to her book. She wasn't especially worried by this little storm-off. Corvo would come around to the idea eventually. And her parents were getting married. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New fic! Expect this one to update pretty slowly, because I want to do it properly, and don't have as much time as I'd have liked. Hope you like the premise!
> 
> Emily realised pretty early on in her teens what her relation to Corvo was, and then her mother confirmed it. So they hang out like a normal family when they're alone, and sometimes even when they're not, but by now no one really cares that much.
> 
> I also want to point out that it's ironic that I'm writing fanfiction about a wedding, considering that I'm not too sold on the idea of marriage. It'll probably get cynical fast.
> 
> [Edit: I changed the title of the prologue to better fit the tone of the fic. For posterity's sake, the old title was 'Incidental Proposal']


	2. Emily Wants Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily wants coffee. Jessamine wants a family reconcilliation. Corvo wants to be left out of it.

Corvo was leaning on the railing in the balcony of Jessamine's quarters. I say 'balcony', but it was actually larger than most medium-sized apartments, furnished with a table, some comfortable-looking chairs and potted plants and flowers. There he was, silhouetted against the moon, looking at the Estate District, illuminated mostly by moonlight, partially by the pinprick lights of each house. He was moderately upset at the moment.

You see, when Corvo and Jessamine had...given into their emotions at the Fugue Feast all those years ago, when they had finally realised that they felt much too strongly about each other to confine what had happened to two days on the calendar, a part of Corvo, a small, tiny part had wanted them to be married.

He had never voiced any such desire to Jessamine, and he fully understood why it could never happen, but even so, Jessamine had sensed something and had gently explained to him many times, that they could not be married, but it did not mean that their love wasn't any less real. _We are together,_ she said _. We have a child together. We have a life with each other_. Jessamine had always been content with the life that they had together and remarked many times, how fortunate they were. And every time she said that, Corvo felt fortunate too.

But now she _did_ want to get married.

Presently, his brooding was interrupted by Jessamine herself. She leaned on the railing alongside him in silence for a few minutes.   

Finally, unable to take the silence anymore, she turned to face him.

"Corvo," she said softly, half her face lit silver "if you don't want to go through with this...that's fine. I can always find something else to do. Build a new bridge or something like that. We don't have to get married if that's what you want."

Corvo considered this for a moment.

"I thought you were happy with the way things were." he said eventually.

"I was - I _am_! What we have together, I wouldn't exchange it for anything. And it couldn't be any better than it already is." Jessamine declared.

"Then why do you want us to get married? If you're so happy right now, then why a wedding, all of a sudden?"

"I'm going to be honest with you, Corvo." Jessamine said, and Corvo wondered if anything good could follow such a pronouncement "I want this wedding to happen for mostly political reasons. I want it to be a huge affair, days of festivities, lots of food, expensive dresses, and the most important people from across the Empire as my guests. I want them to understand our position now. We aren't begging for aid, anymore. Speaking of which, I want them to understand that this recovery was in no part thanks to them. I haven't forgotten about that blockade, how they starved us out. And if they have a problem with being reminded of that? If they're upset by my choice of groom? The navy parade I'm planning will sort that out." Jessamine smirked. It was evident that she had been planning this for a while. "They're going to understand that it will be beneficial for everyone if we were to _improve_ trade relations, and that it's in everyone's best interests to be loyal to the Empire. They'll see us together, and they'll realise there's no stopping us. We're more powerful than we've ever been before and we're going to let them know" Jessamine said, her eyes gleaming.

"Planning this is going to be a nightmare, though." she added as an afterthought and then fell silent.

"So," Corvo said, trying to find the right words, "you're not doing this because you feel our relationship has been incomplete without marriage?"

"Absolutely not."

"And you're having a wedding primarily to use it as a showcase for Dunwall?"

"Yes."

"So, I have nothing to do with it?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course you do." Jessamine snapped "it's your wedding too, you know. And besides," her tone softened "you're the only one I could stand being married to. I wouldn't last five minutes in a wedding with someone else. This is going to be mostly a political affair, but we can still find the time to...celebrate us." she smiled.

Corvo smiled too and then kissed her.

Jessamine laughed. "Look at us, I asked you to marry me and you were upset, but now that I've told you that it's mostly for political reasons, you're alright. You are fine, aren't you?"

"Yes! I am. And yes, Jess, I _will_ marry you." They kissed again, and then stood side-by-side, holding hands, gazing at the city lights.

Then they went to bed.

* * *

The morning sunlight was streaming into Emily's room when she was rudely awakened by the frantic knocking at the door. On the other side was Fiona Grizell, her appointed Protector.

"Open up, Em!" she pleaded, pounding on the door with her fists.

Yawning and stretching, Emily got to her feet with bleary eyes and a dazed pre-morning coffee expression on her face. She swung the mahogany double doors open. Fiona was bobbing up and down on her toes, the very picture of impatience.

"Finally!" she exclaimed, and stormed past Emily, heading straight for the bathroom and throwing the door close with a slam.

Emily crawled back into bed.

"Sorry for the harsh wake-up call, but I overdid breakfast today and this was the nearest bathroom when the rumblings struck,"  Fiona called from the bathroom  "I am feeling Regret! Lesson learned: no excessive blood sausage consumption at breakfast from now on. Did you sleep well, Em?"

"I can't talk to you when you're taking a shit!" was Emily's response, covering her face with a pillow.

"You're no fun." Fiona shot back.

Ten minutes and much groaning later, Fiona emerged from the bathroom, leaving the door open as she did so. She was tall, had jet black hair, grey eyes and was from Morley. Caulkenny, if you're into details. She was the second Protector to not hail from Gristol, and Emily's constant companion for the past eight years. Despite the seven-year age difference, the two were extremely close. Fiona appreciated the quiet strength, humility and offbeat sense of humour of her charge. Emily had always liked that Fiona had never once talked down to her, not even when they had first met, when she was twelve and Fiona was nineteen. She was practically family at this point, as far as Emily was concerned. Family that no qualms carrying on conversations while moving their bowels. 

"Wake up," Fiona was saying, tugging at the sheets Emily had bundled herself in, even as Emily was pulling them back. "Come on, we've got to get to breakfast."

Emily sighed deeply and got to her feet for a second time. She shuffled to the bathroom to wash up and get dressed. Fiona settled herself in one of the armchairs, making herself comfortable.

After Emily was dressed, Fiona rose, ready to accompany Emily to the dining room.

"Hey, wait, Fi? Before we go, there's something you should know. I want to be the one to tell you. No, no, it's good news!" Emily added, as Fiona looked concerned. "My parents," Fiona, of course, knew of Emily's parentage "they're getting married soon."

Fiona squealed shrilly with delight and even Emily cracked a slight smile. "Em! You must be so happy right now! I know I am!" she exclaimed giving Emily a bone-crushing hug. "Congratulations!" she said into Emily's shoulder.

"Thanks. And yeah, I am happy, of course," Emily said, her placidity in sharp contrast to Fiona's unbridled glee "but don't get carried away. Oh, when my mother tells you, act surprised."

Fiona made some noises that I can only describe as a cross between a squeal, a wail and a throaty shriek.

"You're getting carried away." Emily remarked. "And seriously, calm down. This is a political thing, mostly. To show that Dunwall has recovered and flaunt our additions to the navy and all that. All the economic and political advantages that come with a royal wedding"

"Oh." Fiona said, the glint in her eyes now only '!!!' instead of '!!!!!!!!'"So...it's like a sham wedding, but if the participants loved each other deeply?"

"Yeah, something like that." Emily said, and they left Emily's quarters, walking down a high-ceilinged wood-paneled corridor.

"Your parents love each other don't they?" Fiona asked, walking alongside Emily. They were almost the same height. They both argued often about who was the taller of the two.

"Yeah, you know they do." Emily answered.

"So is it a sham wedding if the bride and groom are in love?"

"Fi, it's too fucking early for questions like this!" Emily grumbled. She hadn't even had her morning cup of coffee yet.

* * *

Breakfast was Emily's least favourite meal of the day. This was primarily because breakfast is partaken of in the morning. Emily did not like waking up in the morning. Unfortunately, since  The only thing that kept her going in the morning was the promise of coffee.

Corvo and Jessamine were already seated, and greeted Emily and Fiona warmly when they entered. Jessamine was seated at the head of the long dining table, with Corvo on her left. Emily took the chair on the right, opposite Corvo.

"You're not joining us, Fiona?" Jessamine inquired with a smile.

Fiona looked sheepish. "Ah, no, Your Majesty," she said "I was up early and starving, so I went to the kitchen." After years of training with him, Fiona was comfortable addressing Corvo by his first name. The Empress was quite a different matter, however. Fiona had a great deal of respect for her, and a healthy amount of fear.

"Won't you at least have some coffee?" Jessamine persisted.

"Yes, of course, Your Majesty." Fiona said, pulling up the chair next to Emily's. She could never say no to coffee.

The head servant came in, pushing a tray containing the morning's dishes. 

"Good morning, Edith," Jessamine said, as Edith began serving portions of sausage and eggs to everyone except Fiona, who politely refused.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Edith replied in precise tones. "I hope you had a good night's rest. Good morning Lady Emily. Lord Protector. Fiona." she added. Fiona grinned at her. Edith did not reply in kind.

"The bacon is wonderful!" Jessamine said, nibbling on a piece off her fork. Next to her, Emily was shoving entire forkfuls into her mouth. 

"I'll be sure to pass on your compliments to the kitchens. My Empress." she said, inclining her head, and left, with the tray."

Fiona poured herself some coffee. Emily glared at her, vigorously working her jaw on the meat. Fiona poured Emily some coffee too. 

They ate in silence for a while.

"Fiona," Jessamine said after a while. (They'd all been pretty hungry and filling their stomachs was an immediate priority) "Corvo and I have some exciting news we'd like to share. We're getting married. Probably in two months, maybe even sooner if we can manage it. I'm going to be announcing it in a week. I'll be sending invitations to all the dignitaries." Jessamine sighed. "This is going to be so hectic."

"I'm extremely happy for you, Your Majesty." Fiona said calmly and politely. Emily thought back to earlier, when she'd broken the news and Fiona nearly deafened her. "And you too Corvo." she beamed at him. She turned back to Jessamine. "I'd be happy to assist in any way I can."

"That's good to know, Fiona," Jessamine said "because there's something I'd like the three of you to do for me." She looked expectantly at Emily who was guzzling her second mug of coffee.

Emily set the mug down on the table slowly. 

"Corvo, I want you to go to Karnaca to personally invite Theodanis Abele to our wedding. He was the one who sent you here. It'll be a nice gesture if you invite him to see you get married to an Empress. Emily, you're going with him. It'll be good for you to see where your father comes from. And because my Protector is going to be away, Fiona, you'll be my Royal Protector temporarily. It'll be a chance for you to experience first-hand the life of the Lady Protector. Is that alright?" It was a rhetorical question. What she meant was: "It better be alright, understood? However if you have any reasonable objections, I'd be happy to hear them out."

A stunned silence followed this short speech. Corvo did not look thrilled about having to visit his homeland; this wasn't all Jessamine wanted from him.  Fiona looked terrified; the prospect of bodyguarding the Empress made her feel quite faint. Emily did not look delighted either, but that was just her morning face; travel always excited her and she'd always wanted to visit Karnaca. 

"And Corvo, there's one more thing," Jessamine said, and Corvo's heart sank because he knew what was coming. "I want you to invite your sister too."

  
_There it is,_  Corvo thought. He could not remain silent any longer.

"Jessamine," he began angrily "I've told you this alread- "

"This is the perfect opportunity for the two of you to finally reconcile- "

"-we never fell out to begin with, you don't listen- "

"-she's the only family either of us have left-"

" _Hey!_ " Emily broke in indignantly.

"You know what I mean, Emily!" Jessamine said impatiently. "Corvo, if I had a sister, no matter how I felt about her, I'd want her to be at my wedding. Beatrici is going to be my sister-in-law. I'd like to meet her."

"But we haven't spoken since I left...and I'm not sure she'd even like you." Corvo said, the obvious desperation in his voice apparent to everyone.

"Let's offer her an invitation, at least. If she doesn't want to come after being invited, I won't press it. But go. See her. Let her see her niece. It'll be good for Emily to get to know your side of the family." Corvo doubted that very much.

"Please, Corvo," Jessamine said, and she almost never pleaded. "Do this for me, if you won't do it for yourself."

Corvo sighed. There was nothing for it, then. A part of him wanted to see Beatrici too.

"Alright then," he said "Emily, let's pack our bags." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a surprisingly long time to write. Most of it had to do with writing Fiona, who is my first real OC for this chapter. She kind of wrote herself in the end, so that worked out well. 
> 
> Next chapter features a voyage. And Fiona bodyguarding Jessamine. Stay tuned.
> 
> [Also if there are spelling, or punctuation errors please forgive me, I'm awful at proofreading, and I pick up on these things really late]


	3. Corvo Wants Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessamine gets some information and announces the engagement. Emily likes sea travel. Corvo is reunited with his sister at the very end of the chapter and gets a rude surprise.

 So far, Emily was enjoying her first proper voyage.

They were travelling aboard the Imperial Yacht, _Empress Beatrix_  as they would be inviting the Duke as envoys (and betrothed and daughter) of the Empress. The ship was large, luxurious and excellently-staffed. Whenever Emily was in her cabin, it was easy to forget that they were sailing. Even calling it a cabin was a misnomer; it was at least as large as her bedroom at home.

She'd been extremely excited at first, hardly sleeping and spending most of her time on the large deck gazing out to the sea, asking the crew questions about the ship (which was relatively new; only two years old and could make the journey from Dunwall to Karnaca in less than two weeks). However, the novelty wore off after a few days, and she now spent quite a bit of time sleeping and the rest of it napping. 

It was during those first few days of fervent enthusiasm that she had asked Corvo about the aunt that she would be meeting soon. They were on the deck, sitting side by side, sunlight on their backs and sea breeze in their hair.

"Why'd you and she fall out?" That was the first question she'd asked after a few minutes of beating around the bush.

Corvo considered her question for a few moments.

"We didn't exactly fall out," he said finally "you could say we...fell out of touch."

"You fell out of touch." Emily repeated disbelievingly.

"We wrote to each other when I first came to Gristol...but soon the letters became more and more infrequent. 

And soon, with your mother becoming Empress, I was busy with other things- "

"No, stop talking!" Emily said quickly.

"I meant becoming _Royal Protector_ " Corvo said with the tiniest amount asperity.

"Oh."

"And so, a few letters may have not been replied to and..." Corvo sighed.

"And?" Emily persisted.

"And that's it. It was two months before I realised that I hadn't sent her any word, and she never sent me anything after that either. So, I'm assuming that she won't be happy to see me."

" _That's_ why you don't want to see her?" Emily's tone was incredulous. "I thought you had some awful fight and swore to never talk to each other again! So what was your plan? You'd just avoid her until the both of you died?"

"It's not just that, Em...we were both upset when I had to leave. She didn't show it, she was being strong for the both of us, for me, so that I could openly be upset. She was maybe even a little angry. We were the only family either of us had left." he paused "I wonder what she looks like now..."

"She's older than you?"

"Yes. I was her baby brother." he smiled. "And she took good care of me...I suppose it won't be all bad, seeing her again." He rose from his seat and went to gaze at the sea.

This was the most emotional Emily had seen him in years. She didn't like this one bit, so she did not bring up the topic for the remainder of their journey.

Instead she spent her waking moments painting. She'd brought paper and colours, whatever fit in the trunk, and she tried to capture the different colours of the sea, all the while thinking about the strange lands that lay beyond the horizons.

* * *

"Good morning, Fiona. Ready to meet the Prime Minister?" was Jessamine's warm greeting to Fiona on this, the fourth day of her being temporary Royal Protector. They were in the dining room. Jessamine had just finished breakfast and was about to meet the Prime Minister to formally announce her engagement to Corvo. 

Guarding Jessamine had been less terrifying that Fiona had imagined. Jessamine had been nothing but gracious to Fiona, and tried to make her comfortable, and it did make Fiona feel better to some extent. But Fiona was still intimidated by the Empress. 

Jessamine knew perfectly well how her daughter's protector comported herself when she wasn't around and the contrast between the rowdy, loud young woman who was Emily's closest friend and the sober, contrite girl in front of her delighted her greatly. She reminded Jessamine of what she imagined herself to be when she was younger. In reality, however, Jessamine had been nowhere near as rowdy in her youth. She'd stayed out late exactly twice as a youth and believed that this qualified as delinquent behaviour. 

As they walked to Jessamine's study, where she held her official meetings, Fiona kept a respectful distance between The Empress and herself, and followed her meekly like a little duckling. 

"You've never met the Prime Minister personally, have you, Fiona?" Jessamine asked.

Fiona shook her head and then realised that since she was behind Jessamine, the gesture would go unnoticed. Also, it wasn't polite.

"No, Your Majesty." she said, and obsessed about what had just happened for a month.

"This will be interesting for you, then." Jessamine smiled. She was wrong. 

Jessamine took her seat behind the desk and Fiona stood behind the chair, to Jessamine's right. This she could to with relatively less worry. Standing motionless and looking intimidating came easily to Fiona.

Almost immediately, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching and then the doors swung open. But it wasn't the Prime Minister who strode in urgently; it was Edith, the head servant.

"Majesty, I've something important to tell you." she was panting slightly. "It's _private._ " 

"Fiona, if you don't mind," Jessamine said, without turning around to look at her.

Fiona left the room, wondering what this was all about.

This is the background of what it was all about: Ten years ago when the whole plague crisis/assassination conspiracy blew up and it turned out that the Royal Spymaster was behind both, feelings of goodwill towards the position were at an all-time low. So, when Jessamine had announced that her court did not need a spymaster if this was what it brought, and declared that she'd be getting rid of the position altogether, the pronouncement was met with relatively little disapproval. 

But you have to remember that this happened on the heels of a plot to murder Jessamine in front of her child and then kidnap said child. The need for actual intelligence was at an all-time high. And she had located someone who could provide it.

Remember the maid who was sick of the conspirators threatening their respective staffs (and sometimes each others'; they weren't especially nice people) and so exposed the traitors to the Empress? She'd long dreamed of things like 'having money' and 'being respected by other people' and she recognized an opportunity to this end. After saving Jessamine's life, she offered to the Empress her extensive list of contacts (she had always believed in the importance of networking) and a proposal; that she still publicly remain a maid, because people often talked as if she wasn't there and that's every spy's dream. She would however want a good pay, nice living quarters, and maybe the head of the service staff at Dunwall Tower...

So Edith Button was Gristol's first female Spymaster, and in the old tradition of the position, her post was once again shrouded in secrecy, and the only people who suspected that there was a Spymaster at all were paranoid conspiracy theorists. Only Jessamine and Corvo knew (she couldn't keep it from him). She wasn't as young as she used to be (she was around Jessamine's age) but this only meant that people felt even less threatened by her and were less guarded around her. You might raise some ethical concerns about Jessamine lying to the people who looked to her as a leader; and I might remind you that some of those people tried to kill her once and Jessamine had no desire to let that happen again and we'd leave it at that.

And this is why Edith had burst into the meeting room: she had just received word from a contact at the Golden Cat. His Excellency the Ambassador from Tyvia had paid a visit two days ago in a foul mood. Apparently, a small fleet of Morlish galleys had been spotted in Tyvian waters. This wasn't the source of His Excellency's displeasure. It was that the Citadel wanted him to do something about it, since His Excellency's colleague in Morley seemed to be either a spy or incompetent. 

Edith was confident that the Prime Minister didn't know of this yet and wanted the Empress to be informed of this development before she met with the PM. She, unlike her predecessor, was loyal to those who were good to her. Jessamine thanked her and Edith excused herself.

She exited the study weeping copious nonexistent tears, pretending not to see a bewildered Fiona gape at her as she walked past. Once out of sight, Edith smirked. Fiona had no idea. No one ever suspected.

* * *

"But this is wonderful news, Your Majesty! May I offer my heartiest congratulations to you and the Royal Protector?" Treavor Pendleton was genuinely happy about the engagement. He'd long made his peace with Emily's parentage (as long as she would be as good to him as Jessamine had been).

After his brothers had been tried and executed for treason, their voting block fell to Treavor and with the machinations of some of the other beneficiaries of the new order (High Overseer Teague Martin, for example) rose to the position of Prime Minister. His allies liked him because he was pliable and extremely easy to manipulate. Jessamine liked him because he was essentially a decent person, and didn't fight her equitable policies as Burrows had done.

"And then we can start discussing the invitations, all the rulers of the Empire, here in Dunwall, and the plans for the festivities...oh my, this is going to be exciting, isn't it?" he beamed at her. As Prime Minister, he would have to be involved in the planning, even if he didn't want to. Luckily for the two of them, he did.

Jessamine returned the smile. It was going to be exciting, alright. 

"Good day, Empress," he said, rising. "Lady Protector." he said to Fiona and then left. She could get used to being referred to as 'Lady Protector'...

Jessamine began writing something on a sheet of paper in a surprisingly untidy scrawl. She then sent for one of the maids and handed her the paper with some instructions. The girl nodded and left.

It was just after they had finished lunch (together at the Empress's insistence) that the loudspeakers around the tower blared.

" _Attention, Dunwall citizens," the Announcer said, "Empress Jessamine Kaldwin announces her engagement to the Lord Protector, Corvo Attano_. _The wedding is planned for the following month."_

Fiona and Jessamine did not acknowledge this, and they both pretended that they couldn't hear an entire city sigh ' _Finally!_ ' in unison.

* * *

The end of their voyage was approaching. Emily could tell because of the constant sunlight they were getting now. Emily loved the sun and Dunwall didn't have as much of it as she would have liked. Her painting of the sea had rays of sunshine rippling on the waves.

And sure enough, the next day, in the light of the day's first rays of sunlight, sheltered by a wall of rolling, tall hills, the Jewel of the South, Karnaca loomed into view. Its gleaming buildings golden in the sunlight, gradually becoming pearly white, all the while getting closer and closer. 

It was an hour before noon when they reached the busy docks. Even though they'd used the Imperial Yacht, this was not an official state visit; so there was no reception party waiting for them. No one knew they were coming.

And so Corvo was faced with a choice. He could seek audience with the Duke, along with all the awkwardness that comes with leaving from somewhere when you're young and returning when you're old and inviting some of those people to your wedding all while being accompanied by your daughter that you had out of wedlock. Or he could go meet his possibly-estranged sister, an option that was fraught with the same discomfiture as the first but also with the kind of resentment and bitterness that only comes with the intimacy of family. Corvo was a pragmatic man, and always believed in doing the more unpleasant thing first, to get it over with. He decided to find Beatrici.

His memories of the layout of Karnaca did not fail him and they soon found Corvo's old house, but learnt that Beatrici had long moved elsewhere. They then went the Property Registration Office, stopping on the way for a delicious lunch at a charming rooftop restaurant. Emily found it all terribly exotic and enjoyed the memories and stories Corvo was telling her about the streets they passed in the rail car. Corvo obtained his sister's address and at the tail-end of the afternoon, they found themselves on the steps of a stately three-story terrace house. Beatrici had done well for herself too, then, Corvo decided. 

After an extremely tiny moment of hesitation, Corvo knocked on the door. Emily was standing right behind him, also eager with anticipation. They heard footsteps approaching, and then the door swung open.

She looked a lot like him. Dark hair, high cheekbones and a strong jaw. 

"Yes?" she asked, and then almost immediately her expression changed as she realised exactly who was on her doorstep.

A sharp intake of breath. She thought she was never going to see him again. And the girl behind him, she looked so much like him...

"Corvo?" she breathed.

But as Corvo was about to say the word 'Yes' in a voice almost as whispery and emotional, a man's voice rasped from inside the house.

"Beatrici?" the voice was getting louder "Is there a problem?"

And behind Beatrici Attano, at the end of the entrance corridor, stood the Knife Of Dunwall, Daud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the story is finally getting off the ground in terms of the weirdness I was aiming for. The middle-aged tray-pushing maid is actually the Royal Spymaster! Daud is in Corvo's sister's house! And craziest of all, Pendleton is the PM!
> 
> Speaking of Daud, this is the second fic I've done where he's the chapter three cliffhanger. Daud is so much fun to use as a cliffhanger, I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. Hope you liked the chapter!


	4. Daud Has Dinner With The Attano-Kaldwins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvo and Beatrici meet again. Emily and Beatrici hit it off. Corvo wants to hit Daud. Daud gets a letter.

Corvo simply gaped. You could count on one hand the number of times he'd done that in his life. He recovered quickly enough though.

He caught Emily by the hand and pulled her behind him. Emily was confused. Beatrici was confused. Daud was not.

"Do you know who this man is?" he semi-whispered to his sister.

"Yes," Beatrici snapped, "I buy his grapes." She was annoyed that the family reunion she'd long dreamed of wasn't going as she'd imagined. She had expected to tearfully embrace her brother as he wept heartfelt apologies. It was going to be beautiful and would cause tears to be shed at retellings of the event.

"You _buy his grapes_?" Corvo repeated, assuming it was some kind of vulgar euphemism. It always fell to poor Emily to explain these things to him. "What does that _mean_?" he whispered, horrified. 

"It means he has a vineyard outside the city, and sells the grapes to me for my winery. I make wines and export them." Beatrici said, extremely annoyed now.

"Oh." Corvo said. 

Daud stepped forward.

"Why don't I give the three of you some time to catch up." It wasn't a question. "I have some business I need to attend to while I'm in the city, in any case." He didn't have any business. He just wanted to leave. 

"Come back in time for dinner." Beatrici smiled.

Daud nodded at her. He walked past Corvo, returning his angry glare with an icy glance and inclining his head politely at a bewildered Emily who had no idea what was happening currently.

Beatrici watched Daud walk away. Corvo noticed this and was horrified once more.

"That man," Corvo told her "He's very dangerous. He- "

"Why don't you come inside?" Beatrici sighed.

She showed them to her drawing room, which was tastefully furnished and had a high ceiling. The walls were punctuated with tall windows that let the late-afternoon sunlight in. Beatrici gestured to a sofa for them to sit on.

"You have a beautiful home." Emily told her. She, at least, would not forget her manners.

Sensing an opportunity to get the reunion back on track, Beatrici smiled and let her eyes swim with just the right amount of tears.

"Are you my niece?" she whispered in the same dramatic way that Corvo had earlier. 

Emily nodded and said yes at the same time.

"Oh!" Beatrici breathed and embraced Emily before she could sit down.

"You're so beautiful," she sniffed, holding Emily at arm's length and inspecting her "You look so much like Mother! You have the Attano face and hair and..." she hugged Emily again. "Sit, sit..." she told Emily. "I'm sorry, " she smiled "I'm just, I'm so happy to see you." Emily smiled back at her. She still wasn't clear on what was happening,

Beatrici's smile faded as she turned to Corvo.

"Why have you come back, after all these years? What was it that suddenly reminded you of me?" she asked.

Corvo sighed and took a step towards her.

"I'm so, deeply sorry about not writing to you, not coming to visit...I thought that you had forgotten about me too. That you didn't want to see me again. I know that this rift between us is my fault, and I want to make it right. I'm getting married in Dunwall, the next month. And I'd like you to be there."

It was Beatrici's turn to gape.

"You're getting married?" she replied so incredulously, it was almost insulting. "To whom?"

"To Emily's mother. The Empress. Of the Isles" he added somewhat unnecessarily.

"Daud told me," she said "that you and the Empress were lovers. But I didn't believe it. I remember how you were when you left...so innocent, so immature. How could such a boy attract an Empress?"

Emily had to repress laughter. She could not imagine her father as an innocent child.

"Well," Corvo said a little defensively "I changed."

"You had to have." Beatrici retorted.

Emily couldn't hold it back this time. Corvo frowned at her while Beatrici smiled approvingly.

"Fear not, I'll come to your wedding, but only because of your precious girl. You were wise to bring her along, you know that?"

The tension in the room seemed to lessen after that pronouncement. 

"Bea, Daud is a dangerous, bad man." Corvo said, intending to take advantage of the lightened atmosphere "You should not be letting him into your home. If... there's anything between the two of you, then you should break it off."

"Outsider's eyes, Corvo! He's someone I buy grapes from! And he's a friend of mine. Nothing more!" Beatrici exclaimed.

"Has he told you what he's done? Did he tell you why he left?" Corvo thundered "Well, let me then. He tried to kill Jessamine. And kidnap Emily." 

Beatrici was unimpressed. "Is this supposed to shock me?" she sneered. "My darling brother, he told me all of this already!  He told me that he knew of you in Dunwall, though not personally. He told me of the disillusionment he felt, the regret, the remorse...and so he walked away from it all. He's already told me who he is!"

This was not, strictly speaking true. Daud had told Beatrici very little about his past life, but had given the impression that it was illegal and that he had grown to hate it. What he did want, he told her, was a nice, quiet retirement so he could put his past behind him, where it belonged.

When Beatrici discovered that the new owner villa neighbouring her own was purchased by a tall, mysterious man with a strong jaw and a chiseled face, she vowed to make him hers, or failing that, at least be able to count him as one of her close friends. And so she laid on charm, and invited him to her town house whenever he was in Karnaca and made special deals just for him and had long dinners where they consumed copious amounts of wine as they had detailed, intimate conversations (in Beatrici's head. In reality, she would overshare inappropriate information with a bemused Daud who quickly learnt to accept this about his new friend). She wanted to give Corvo the impressions that there was  _something_  between them, and the best way to do that was to vehemently deny the existence of _anything_ , all while supplying ample evidence to the contrary. 

It wasn't that chasing Daud was her sole life's ambition or something like that. She'd accomplished most of what she'd wanted to in with her life. She'd singlehandedly clawed her way out of abject poverty using nothing but her wit, charm and determination. She was one of the wealthiest women in the country, if not the Empire. This was why she now wanted to indulge herself a little. No more restraining emotions, no more controlling urges. If she wanted to do something for herself, be it chasing after dangerous, mysterious men or being as melodramatic as possible with her brother (who she was secretly pleased to observe was replying in kind) she would do it,  and damn what other people think.

"But..." Corvo seemed taken aback "he tried to kidnap your niece. You have no problem with that?"

Emily thought back to the man, with his cold, piercing gaze and menacing gait and imagined being taken captive by him.  She shuddered, grateful that he had backed out of that plot.

"You haven't heard him speak of the regret he has for his actions." Beatrici insisted "He is truly remorseful. And he is a good man now. He lives a quiet life outside the city. He'll be here at dinner. Let him talk to you then, he'll convince you, I know he will."

Corvo sighed. He should have gone to see the Duke first.

* * *

Daud, for his part, was surprised to find himself mildly disappointed the quiet (except for Beatrici) dinner he to have with Beatrici wasn't going to be with just her. He had grown quite fond of the woman with her warm hospitality and eccentricities. He appreciated that she too had reached that stage in her life where she had nothing left to prove to other people, and now wanted only to do what she felt brought her happiness. For Daud, that was quiet days in the villa and grape-farming. For Beatrici...it was many things.

Daud was painfully aware of Beatrici's attraction to him, and wasn't inherently repelled by the idea, especially given the fact that since she did not seem to be an overly sentimental woman (he hadn't been there for the reunion and she always played it cool in front of him; it came naturally to her) it wouldn't be messy. But given who her family was, Daud did not want himself embroiled in anything especially complicated. He felt like he didn't have the will to be embroiled in anything at all. It dawned on him that Beatrici was the only woman in his life with whom he now had any kind of meaningful relationship.

Since he had the time, he decided to go to the Post Office two streets away to check if he'd received anything. It was just something to do before he went to a pub so he wouldn't have to be sober for the painful dinner. He always received his letters at this post office, the one nearest to Beatrici's house. He was reluctant to give strangers his proper address.

To his surprise, he discovered he'd actually got some post. It was a single, small envelope. He opened it. There was a small piece of paper inside with some writing scrawled on it. 

_Daud,_

_You said that we should tell you if they ever came back._

_They're back._

Daud prided himself on his inscrutable face. But right now, unbeknownst to him, I can tell you that his expression was one of a man whose retirement has taken a hiatus without his permission.

* * *

"The food is wonderful, Beatrici!" Emily said after another ten minutes of stony silence. Her aunt had earlier insisted that Emily call her _Beatrici_ , no 'auntie' nonsense here. Emily voiced no objections.

All things considered though, dinner was going alright, Beatrici told herself, determinedly ignoring that this was only the second time that someone had spoken, ten minutes after she and Emily had made some small talk. 

Corvo racked his brain for something to say that wasn't an insult aimed at Daud, but came up with nothing, so he held his tongue. Daud didn't even bother. He was waiting for the right moment...

He didn't have to wait long.

"Corvo's here to invite me to his wedding!" Beatrici announced to the room, in a desperate attempt to murder the painfully loud silence.

"Oh," Daud said. This actually surprised him. He was surprised it hadn't happened earlier.

"Yes, that's right." Beatrici smiled charmingly "Next month, isn't that right, Corvo?"

"Maybe." Corvo said.

"And have you decided on a specific date, yet?"

"No." Corvo grunted.

"Mother's making the preparations now, since we're here. Father is here to invite the Duke of Serkonos personally. And you." Emily said, smiling at Beatrici. At that moment, she loved her darling niece more than anything in the world.

"The Duke...that's an impressive guest! I'm going to feel so out of place over there. You'll have to show me around Dunwall while I'm there. I know nothing of the city" she sighed, sitting next to a certain someone who knew every street, sewer and canal of aforementioned city. 

Emily and Beatrici continued like this for the remainder of dinner, until everyone's plate was clean. Beatrici had hired the best cook in the city, and after dinner her guests (the new ones anyway) knew this too.

"I'd like to say something," Daud said suddenly, all eyes falling on him. "I want you" he looked straight at Corvo "to know how much I regret my involvement in the assassination plot ten years ago. Burrows had offered me a great sum of money, and that was enough to get my interest. But soon I realised that if the plot succeed, Dunwall would be run by the most vapid, amoral group of people I have ever had the misfortune to meet, and in her darkest hour. No amount of money was worth that. So I walked away from it. I walked away from it all. I haven't...conducted business since that day, and I intended to never, for the rest of my life." He paused, steeling himself. "But, I still feel a great amount of remorse for what happened, and I would like to meet the Empress. To look her in the eye and apologise. I'd like to accompany you back to Dunwall."

"What." Emily said, utterly deadpan. "Wait, you were going to kidnap me! Don't I get an apology too?" she said indignantly.

"You do, Lady Emily. I'm truly sorry I was involved in a plot to kidnap you after murdering your mother." Daud replied with a hint of sarcasm he knew he couldn't afford to inflect. "However," he added "given that this was all to unfold before your mother, I would like to apologise in front of her too."

Silence met this request. 

Daud dug deeper.

"I'm haunted by- "

"-Alright, fine, you can come." Corvo said irritably. "But know this: if you try _anything_ " he managed to hiss that word "I will not hesitate to kill you."

Daud had no problem with that. All that talking had exhausted him.

Emily had the same expression she'd had when someone had told her that Treavor Pendleton was one of the city's most eligible bachelors. Beatrici was trying to hide her glee at the fact that she would be attending a wedding with the man she was lusting after. Corvo was angry, angry enough that he'd just threatened to kill someone.

An uncomfortable silence followed. Far worse than anything they'd encountered so far. They'd all simultaneously realised that they would be spending the night under the same roof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comedic potential for this chapter was practically dripping on the floor and I hope I [WARNING: CHANGE OF METAPHORS] mined it effectively without overdoing it. Beatrici is who I want to be when I grow up, just so you know where she's coming from.
> 
> Next chapter: Jessamine meets her eccentric, Corvo meets the Duke and Emily hangs out with Daud. Should be fun.


	5. Emily Has A Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily's fallen sick. Daud tries to care for her at Beatrici's behest. Jessamine meets an old friend.

Emily had a cold.  

Let me be more specific. When they reached Karnaca, her throat had felt weird, it hurt to swallow and she'd been feeling sporadic pinpricks of pain throughout the day. Not enough to complain, although for Emily, it was never enough to complain. That night, at her aunt Beatrici's house, after the painfully awkward date-morphed-into-family-reconciliation-and-running-into-the-guy-who-tried-to-kill-your-mother, she went to bed, and when she woke up the next morning, she was, to put it mildly, sick as fuck.

Corvo came to wake her up, they had to meet the Duke of Serkonos in two hours. She'd always been a late riser. 

He knocked politely on the door. There was no response.

He knocked a little more firmly. There was still no response.

Corvo sighed. When he was her age, it was a rare luxury for him to rise even at dawn (He'd had to wake up early for all his Royal Protector training).

He pushed the handle down, and swung the door open. The hinges creaked painfully loudly. Emily was fast asleep in the large bed, only a mop of dark hair poking out of thick white sheets.

"Em," Corvo said softly, "come on, let's go."

Emily stirred. Then she made the longest, wettest, most disgusting sniffling noise Corvo had ever heard. She rolled over to blearily peer at Corvo, sniffing again.

"I dod't feel so good." she said hoarsely, and sneezed four times in succession before groaning.

Corvo was very exasperated now, but he was too nice to show it.

* * *

It's been a while since we checked in on Jessamine, so let's do that now.

By now, invitations had been issued for all the top-tier dignitaries across the Empire. This included heads of state, religious heads, wealthy people and all of _these_  peoples' top-tier dignitaries. Once the invitations were confirmed, they could start inviting the B-list guests. 

Jessamine had picked a date, too. It was too be exactly two months from now, on the first of the Month of Rain, for added auspiciousness and heralding-of-a-golden-age-ness.  So, she was expecting the guests to show up about two weeks before the wedding. They'd come for the hospitality, the free food and the chance to curry favour with the Empress. And she wanted them to come to show off a resurrected Dunwall. 

But largely, she planned to leave the details to Edith, who knew the places that would impress the visitors the most, the most luxurious hotels for the A-list guests and the 'affordable' ones for the wannabes (Jessamine doesn't have words for 'B-list' and 'wannabes' but I do, so I'm using them). Unlike the universal image of the stereotypical semi-hysterical bride who concerns herself with the perfect dress and venue, Jessamine was almost fully-hysterically dreaming about the ball with the leading lights of Dunwalls trading comapnies she was planning and a navy parade. Jessamine was perfectly aware that it was a blatant carrot-and-stick approach she was adopting, but these were the people that blockaded her when she asked for help, so she figured that subtlety was not a language these people spoke. 

So essentially, wedding preparations were in full-swing, although the actual boring wedding planning like arranging for decorations and music and so on, was being done by Edith, who was hell-bent on securing the best possible providers of each service for as little as she could pay them with.

Jessamine kept herself busy too, especially to keep her from thinking about how much she missed Corvo and Emily. She hadn't received any word from them, but that was to be expected. She fervently hoped that Beatrici would come back with them. A political spectacle, this may be, but it was also a chance for her to get to extend her family. She'd always wanted a sister, even after the incident with Delilah...

She was in the residence, writing out a long, detailed letter to directors of the Chambers Of Commerce about exactly what she wanted out of the ball (spoilers: it boils down to 'More money') when Edith entered, apologising.

"What is it, Edith?" Jessamine looked up. 

"Your Majesty, you have a visitor- Visitors I should say." she looked troubled. "I must say, I wasn't expecting this." Edith shook her head. 

This put Jessamine on edge. Edith always expected things, and when unexpected things happened, as they often do in this grand journey we're all on called Life, Edith behaved as though the earth had suddenly split in half without informing her first. And she wasn't ashamed to let people know of her outrage and horror.

"Who is it, Edith?" she asked with the tiniest hint of impatience. She had always hated forced suspense.

"Your Majesty," Edith said, getting a grip on herself again "it's her.

(This, by the way, is an example of forced suspense. The visitor was the Queen of Morley, that's it)

* * *

Emily awoke to the sound of knocking on her door.

"Cub id" she said as loudly as she could (i.e. feebly), wiping away at the snot and the drool. Having a cold is truly disgusting and I will not make my distaste for it a secret, O beloved reader.

The door opened slowly and behind it stood Daud, carrying a silver tray with a steaming porcelain bowl in it. If Emily had been feeling better, she might have wondered how he opened the door so carefully with his hands full. She elbowed her way to sit up on the bed. She felt weak.

"Soup." Daud announced, awkwardly setting the tray down before Emily.

"What kidd." Emily asked (well, technically it was a question, but she delivered it as more of a statement)

"I don't know," Daud answered, brusquely "your aunt made it for you."

Emily slurped a spoonful. It was tomato soup, her favourite. Rich, creamy and warm, just what she needed. Daud was still standing beside the bed, watching her noisily consume the soup.

Emily paused and looked up at him. It was a look that said "What are you doing here?" with equal parts scorn and disbelief. Daud seemed to have understood.

"Do you need anything?" he asked finally, annoyed that a sick, bedridden girl was making him feel so uncomfortable. Had he become _that_ soft?

"Doh." Emily said, matching his brusqueness with her own unique brand of curtness despite her nose having twenty tonnes (liters?) of snot in it.

But Daud had the last laugh-equivalent in this battle of cold abruptness. He gave her the tiniest of nods and them left, shutting the door behind him with something that resembled a very brusque slam.

* * *

 "All rise for Her Majesty, The Empress of the Isles, Jessamine Kaldwin."

Everyone in the audience chamber (which was a stripped-down way of saying 'the literal, fucking Throne Room') rose, as Jessamine walked down the long aisle, Fiona trailing at a respectful distance, and came to a stop at slightly fancy armchair on a marginally elevated platform that people called 'the Throne'. She faced the room, and fixed her eyes on the woman at the front of the group assembled there. 

She was about the same age as Jessamine, but that was where the superficial similarities ended. 

"Presenting Her Royal Highn-" the announcer started.

"No, that's alright, no need for that." Jessamine said, and he fell silent, feeling rather silly, as one does when one has to bellow their lungs out in a large room and then are told to stop, please.

"Isobel." she said to the woman.

Queen Isobel stepped forward.

She had long golden-brown hair that she kept loose, and that tumbled down in lazy cascades to her lower back. She wore a long, white gown that hugged her voluptuous figure and was low-cut enough to show off some of those curves even better. The gown seemed to be cut in other places too, for seemingly no other reason than 'why not?'. On her ears, she had long, sparkling dangling earrings. And draped around her shoulders was a white, feathery boa. 

But that's not all, oh no. She became the Queen of Morley five years prior, when her husband tragically died in a hunting accident, and everyone knows what _that_ means. Isobel however, had proven a capable and shrewd administrator, in stark contrast to her husband, who had seemed shrewd and capable, but was really a stereotypical Bad King. Jessamine had spent a summer with her when they were sixteen, when her father, a prominent nobleman was visiting, Neither of them had expected to be fond of the other; Jessamine with her quiet dignity and sobriety, and Isobel, all flamboyant clothes and a bearing that somehow surpassed that. Yet, they developed a respect for each other, and then a fondness and a friendship that they'd maintained ever since. 

"Jessamine, how _wonderful_  it is to see you again! After all these years, and now you're getting married, oh congratulations!"

Jessamine stepped forward and embraced Queen Isobel. Then they broke away and looked up and down at each other.

"You look beautiful!" Jessamine smiled.  

"And you, my Empress." Isobel said. "I'd like to present to you my son and heir, Prince Calum."

A boy standing behind the queen bowed to the Empress. When I say 'boy', I mean from Jessamine's perspective. He was eighteen and he liked to think of himself as a man now. He was tall, had broad shoulders and auburn hair. He was in short, extremely attractive. Fiona thought he was attractive too, but she was on duty and she couldn't show it. The perks of her job also seemed to be the drawbacks. 

"We have a lot of catching up to do," Jessamine smiled. "Let's continue this meeting in my study, shall we?"

Queen Isobel returned the smile, her eyes sparkling like the diamonds around her neck. And her wrists. And her ears. And her finger. And even though no one could see, because of the ridiculously high-heeled shoes she was wearing, her toes.

* * *

Daud came by a little while later to retrieve the tray. He knocked but there was no reply, so he opened the door as quietly as he could.

Emily was fast asleep on the huge bed, the tray with an empty bowl, on the corner of the bed. She was snoring softly. Daud felt sorry for how he'd behaved earlier. Given their history, it was only natural that she feel some animosity towards him. He picked up the tray and walked towards the door.

"Boo." Emily said, utterly deadpan, sitting up with surprising agility.

Daud did not not how to respond to this.

"Oh, you're awake" he said after a moment, with unconvincing pleasantness.

"Yes," Emily said happily "Is my father back yet?"

"No, he's not."

"Is Beatrici home?" 

"Yes, she's downstairs."

"I'd like to see her," Emily declared "Would you accompany me, please? I'm still quite weak."

Daud watch as she got out of bed, in loose, crumpled pyjamas, messy hair and a gleam in her eyes. The girl was up to something. She looked much better than she did earlier. He wondered what was in that soup.

As it turns out, she needed no help, and descended the staircase with ease. He couldn't that it was quite a struggle for her to make it look so easy.

She greeted her aunt in the large, open kitchen and sunk into a stool next to the counter. She watched as Daud walked away, closing the door behind him.

"Feeling better?" Beatrici asked, placing the back of her hand on Emily's forehead "You look better, that's good. Want some whiskey? It's good for when you have a cold."

Emily nodded. She was no stranger to drinking hard liquor, but for her parents' sake, she pretended that she was not, in fact, capable of consuming glass after glass of fine, amber whiskey. It wasn't that her parents wouldn't let her, she just didn't want to have the awkward conversation about this with her parents, watching them trying to hide their disapproval and their awareness of the irrationality of that disapproval...it wasn't worth the trouble.

Beatrici poured her a glass. "Daud took good care of you, I trust?" she asked.

"Oh yes," Emily said "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?" said Beatrici, unaware that Emily had come downstairs with any other purpose than to stretch her legs and drink high-quality alcohol.

"Yes." Emily said firmly "I'm aware that he is going to accompany us to Dunwall and will be our guest there, but I do not want to have to even speak to that man."

Beatrici was shocked. "Emily, he- "

"-He tried to kill my mother. I know he's _sorry,_  and he regrets it, and wants to make amends, but I don't trust him, and until such time as I decide that he poses no threat to us, I will not be left alone with him, he is not to approach me or try to talk to me."

Beatrici found herself impressed with the authoritativeness in Emily's voice and gained a newfound respect for her. 

"You cannot tell your father about this but- "

"You two are lovers? I knew it!" Emily exclaimed, figuratively throwing her Voice Of Command out of the window. She couldn't resist gossip about secret relationships.

"No, no," Beatrici said hastily "We're not, I assure you."

"Oh." Emily said, disappointed.

"Yet." Beatrici smiled. Emily's eyes widened.

"I've known a lot of men in my life," Beatrici said, still smiling "but they've all bored me, disappointed me. But now...I've spent some time with him, I have good feelings about him. I can tell he's changed. But out of respect for your feelings, I'll tell him to keep away from you. He won't talk to you or anything. Is that alright?"

Emily nodded. She was confused now. On the one had, she wanted her aunt to find love. On the other hand, she wanted her aunt to find love with a good man. And she wasn't sure about Daud anymore. A whole day's sickly, snot-filled contemplation, wasted.

"Beatrici," Emily said, "do you love him?"

Beatrici opened her mouth, but was unsure of the words about to come out, so she left it half open.

Outside the kitchen, Daud was down on one knee, ear pressed to the door, also waiting for the answer, in spite of himself.

And then the doorbell rang. It was Corvo, back from visiting the Duke. 

(That meant that neither Emily nor Daud got to hear Beatrici's answer because of a convenient doorbell ring, but that doesn't mean that you should be left in the dark. Beatrici was going to say "No" but then amend that with a more ambiguous and honest "I don't know"

And now, you know.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long, life keeps getting in the way...
> 
> I'm terrible at writing OCs so I just model them on actors I've seen in other stuff. For example, Isobel is basically my OC version of Eliabeth Hurley's character from The Royals. She's (Isobel and Lis Hurley's queen) extremely, ridiculously, disproportionately glamorous, and I like that, for some reason.
> 
> Edith is based on Frances Conroy's role in American Horror Story: Murder House, but with the stratospheric scenery-chewing of her role in season three.
> 
> Also, by way of explanation, I want to say that while I was initially unsure about third-person narration, the best thing about it is that the narrator can be omniscient. And it's a feature I intend to exploit thoroughly.


	6. Emily Hides Under A Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily pays dearly for her snooping. Jessamine gets a gift. Corvo gets nothing.

At the exact moment that Corvo was about to press a finger to the doorbell outside his sister's house, all of its occupants were doing something they knew they weren't supposed to do. Beatrici was about to explain to her niece her exact romantic feelings for the assassin who tried to murder her sister-in-law, while said assassin had his ear pressed to the door, listening to every word being said, hating himself for it. Emily was drinking whiskey, which wasn't so bad, but she'd led her parents to believe that she didn't drink.

At the exact moment that Corvo rang the doorbell, everyone panicked.

Daud got as far away from the door as he could before Beatrici opened it and found him standing in the middle of the corridor.

"I'll get the door," they both said together, sounding like they were under severe mind-control.

From inside the kitchen, they heard the sound of glass shattering.

"I'll get that," Beatrici muttered, grateful for the diversion, and went back into the kitchen. Had he heard everything? Beatrici hoped not, partly because of the nature of the things she'd said, and partly because she didn't know how to feel about him eavesdropping on private conversations.

Daud opened the front door. Corvo looked disappointed to see him. 

Neither man had any idea what to say to the other.

Corvo walked past Daud and into the large hall. He heard voices from the kitchen, so it was there he went.

He found Beatrici sweeping up shards of broken glass. Emily was hovering alongside her, apologising profusely. Neither of them seemed to have noticed him.

"I'm back." Corvo said.

Emily and Beatrici made every effort to act like they were surprised. It wasn't all that convincing.

* * *

Jessamine and Isobel were sitting in huge armchairs in the huge balcony of the living quarters, smoking huge cigars and drinking huge quantities of whiskey.

"D'you think you'll get married again?" Jessamine asked, draining her glass.

"No, fuck no," Isobel laughed "Once was more than enough."

Jessamine laughed too, more quietly. The memory of their last such gathering resurfaced in their minds. They were a lot younger then, and their whiskey and cigars meetings had to be much more clandestine. It was then that they had poured their hearts out to each other, about what they believed in, their hopes, dreams and fears. Isobel had said she couldn't wait to get married, while Jessamine was dead set against marriage. As ironic as this appears to be, since Jessamine's main motivations for getting married were mainly political and economic, the irony present is diminished by approximately thirty percent. Also Isobel wanted to get married to the king so she could be queen, and after his tragic death, she became Queen Regnant in her own right, like she had always wanted, so she didn't really want to get married again. So there goes another thirty percent.

"We've changed so much," Jessamine remarked.

"We haven't changed at all." Isobel replied.

They continued smoking and drinking and basking in the profoundness of their observations, drunk enough to lack the self-awareness to realise that much of what they were saying wouldn't make much sense if it was scrutinized by more sober minds, and also that most of it sounded downright silly.

* * *

 Emily spent the rest of the day in bed, in and out of sleep.  The two minutes of chaos took quite a toll on her, and the pervasive, relentless heat didn't help much. 

One of the 'out of sleep' phases occurred in the middle of the night. Emily's eyes snapped open all of a sudden, and she found that she didn't feel even remotely sleepy. She swung her feet off the bed and landed them softly on the floor.

She padded across to the bed and opened the door with a slight creak. The corridor was illuminated by squares of moonlight from the three windows, flooding it with a ghostly silver light. It was beautiful, and serene.

She walked across the corridor, lightly placing each foot before the next, until she reached the next room, at the end of the corridor. On a whim, she placed her hand on the doorknob, and even more ill-advisedly, soundlessly twisted it around.

A moment later, the enormity of her foolishness rushed over her and her heart began to race. She peered through the tiny crack she'd opened. She sighed with relief. The bed was still made. Daud hadn't come to bed yet. (Emily didn't know that Daud had left for his villa in the evening, to retrieve all the things he'd need for his unexpected trip to Dunwall).

Foolishness roughly grabbed sensibleness from the driver's seat in Emily's brain and flung it against the wall. She stepped into the room. This was her chance to Snoop. 

She realised with a pang that Daud kept his room much neater than she had kept any of hers. The orderliness of the room was evident, even in the dark. Granted, she'd been sick, but Daud had killed people for money. Somehow, Emily had always imagined murderers to be untidy. 

She didn't even know what she was looking for. She opened one of the wardrobes and found a few shirts and pairs of trousers neatly folded in one shelf. There was a drawer underneath that shelf. She pulled it open. It had underwear. She slammed it shut.

She went to the bedside table on the left and pulled the drawer open. There was an envelope. She opened it and read the note inside, standing next to the window, the paper lit by moonlight. _They're back,_ it said. Emily frowned. But she didn't have much more time to react because she heard footsteps outside in the corridor getting louder. She stuffed the note back in the envelope and hastily closed the drawer.

And then, because there was nowhere else she could think of to hide, and because the footsteps came to a stop outside the door, she crawled under the bed just as the door started to open.

* * *

"We're out," Isobel said. She shook the empty bottle of whiskey to prove her point.

"I'll send for some more if you want." Jessamine said languidly.

"Maybe that would be... _unwise._ " 

"You're probably right." Jessamine tried hard to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

A thought suddenly occurred to Jessamine.

"You're getting me a wedding gift, aren't you?" she asked Isobel.

"Yes of course, darling."

Jessamine looked at Isobel expectantly.

"Well?" she asked after a few seconds.

"Well, what?"

"Well, what is it, O Great Queen?"

"It's a surprise." Isobel said, playing coy, something that she was so bad at, she somehow managed to achieve a level of quality in it.

"Oh, so on my wedding day, I'm going to open up a box and find a piece of paper with 'A Surprise' written on it? That's great."

"Ha, ha, so _witty_ Jessie. I'm so amused." Isobel said drily. A moment later they looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Fine," Isobel conceded "I'll show you what I'm giving you. It's in my room, come on."

Jessamine got to her feet, feeling the kind of pleasure that comes from reaping the benefits of your powers of persuasion. Sadly for her, Isobel had been dying to show her gift off and would have done so at the slightest of hints.

* * *

Daud whistled tunelessly as he unloaded the items in the small crate he carried with him. He kept his things on his bed and his boots were inches away from Emily's face.

One of the items he'd retrieved from his villa for the trip to Dunwall was his old blade. It was dull and he'd not used it in ages, but he wanted to take it with him. They had all always used the same type of sword.

The very moment he entered the room, his gaze was immediately drawn to the drawer in the left bedside table, which was not closed properly. It was open only by the tiniest of amounts, but you don't get to be a notorious, fearsome assassin without paying attention to detail.

"Whoops!" he said cheerily, or as cheerily as he could, as he let his sword drop to the floor with a loud, metallic clang. Emily's heart began pounding. He bent down to pick it up, letting his eyes flicker to her for a fraction of a second. Then he stood up again. Emily was unsure as to whether she'd been spotted or not. There was no way he couldn't have seen her if he was looking for her. On the other hand, if he did see her, wouldn't he have said something?

Let me spare you the uncertainty. He saw her.

He sat on the bed and groaned as he took his trousers off. Emily was less than thrilled about this. He dropped the trousers right in front of Emily, who then seized the opportunity to shift a little, as Daud was adjusting his bed covers with gusto.

Emily decided that she would wait until she heard him snoring, and then get the fuck out of there. Unfortunately for her, Daud didn't snore. He fell asleep after fifteen minutes, but Emily wasn't sure if it was a trap to get her to come out or not. She still wasn't sure if she'd been seen or not.

  
_I'll wait a while more...just fifteen minutes..._ Emily thought to herself.

Emily fell asleep in ten minutes, her stomach pressed to the carpet.

* * *

"That's... _small_ , isn't it?" Jessamine's face echoed the doubt in her voice. It wasn't that she didn't filter her thoughts when intoxicated, because she did. She only became more lax in deciding which people deserved the filtered thoughts.

The object of Jessamine's poorly-disguised disappointment was a small. wooden box that Isobel had placed in front of her. They were in the guest room next to Isobel's, the room that contained everyone's luggage. It was under the watchful eye of two of Isobel's guards who knew that had been right to be excited about the trip to Dunwall when the Empress of the Isles gave them a warm smile and bid them a good night as she walked past them.

"It's even smaller when you open it up," Isobel said drily.

Jessamine opened it up. And then she gasped. Inside was a diamond of gigantic proportions (well, for a diamond) and even in the dim lights, was sparkling a bright, purple colour. 

"Purple's a royal colour," Isobel remarked.

Jessamine became emotional.

"It's, it's _beautiful_ " she wailed, and tackled Isobel into a tight hug which was returned in equal measure. Isobel was emotional too. 

"Let's go have some more whiskey," Jessamine whispered into Isobel's shoulder.

* * *

When Emily opened her eyes again, the room was illuminated now not by the silvery moonlight, but the gentle, golden-pink tentative first light of the day. Her whole body ached. She'd fallen asleep on her stomach, and to her horror, realised that she had drooled on the carpet. Her cold seemed to have vanished though, so that was a positive. 

  
_It's now or never_ , she thought to her self. She had to get out. She could do it. She was Emily Kaldwin!

She spent another five minutes thinking thoughts in this vein, to psych up.

She slowly, crawled out from under the bed, trying to make no sound. She stood up, praying then none of her bones would betray her and crack loudly. Nothing happened. She padded her way to the door and rested her hand on the doorknob.

"I hope you slept well," Daud rasped from behind her, sitting on the bed, smirking slightly.

Emily decided to brazen it out.

"No, actually, I didn't. That's why I'm going back to my room." she told him.

Daud raised his eyebrows.

"Is that really how you want to do this?" he asked, rising from the bed.

"No, not...no....?" Emily said.

"Good." He sat down again. "So, tell me, why did you spend six hours under my bed? Let me repeat: _six hours_. Why."

"I heard a sound." Emily said.

"You heard a sound." Daud repeated, to indicate how ridiculous he found the lie.

"Yes, it sounded like...something...so I decided to..." she trailed off.

"This is a waste of time," Daud sighed "Let's move on to the letter that you read. Any comments about it? The quality of the paper, the handwriting, anything?"

Emily shook her head.

"Wonderful," he growled "So we have an understanding then. You won't tell anyone about that letter, especially your father, and I won't let him how little you value other people's privacy. Will that be alright?" he asked not waiting for a reply. Daud wasn't especially outraged that his privacy had been invaded. After all, he'd eavesdropped on one of Emily's conversations only the day before. He was however oddly fascinated by the fact that she'd waited six hours under his bed. In another lifetime, maybe he could have trained her. The girl had potential.

Emily opened the door and left. She was furious. She hated how helpless she had felt just then, and how scared he had made her feel (even though she knew she was wrong to pry in his room. And then sleep under his bed). 

He'd pay for this.

* * *

Jessamine woke up squinting in the sunlight that was falling on her bed. 

It did no favours for the massive ache in her head. 

Still unable to properly open her eyes, she stumbled out of bed and around her room in a daze. No one had woken her up. She normally woke up at sunrise. What would people think?

Her headache intensified.

Her brain was now able to form only one coherent thought: _coffee_.

She poked her head out of the room and called for Edith, who knocked on the door within a minute.

"Oh, wonderful, you're awake, Your Majesty." Edith smiled.

Jessamine wasn't sure if it was a personal attack and she didn't particularly care to find out.

"Coffee," she pleaded.

"Shall I send them up to see you, Your Majesty?" Edith inquired.

Jessamine contorted her face into a grotesque frown to show just how little meaning she had gleaned from that question.

"Lady Emily and the Royal Protector, my Empress," Edith beamed, "they're back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, plot twist! Jessamine's story line was taking place in the future, apparently. I'm really mainly writing this for the humour, so I hope you'll overlook the weird timelines.
> 
> Also, the hiding under the bed trope, I never fully understood the appeal of that one until I actually wrote it. It is delightful, and Emily fell asleep under the bed because there's still a little bit of me in her.


	7. Jessamine Isn't Fooled Easily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessamine hugs her baby. Corvo is blindsided. Daud and Beatrici have hatched a plan.

Jessamine was extremely hungover. However, despite all the discomforts that constituted your average raging hangover, she was elated that her baby was finally home. And Corvo too.

They were waiting for her in the large hall in the residence, father and daughter beaming broadly at her as she descended the staircase. She nearly tripped over her nightgown, in her rush to get to them. Emily moved forward and Jessamine gave Emily an incredibly tight hug.

"My baby," Jessamine mumbled into Emily's shoulder. "I missed you so much." 

Reluctantly, she let go of Emily and turned to Corvo. They hugged too. 

"So," Jessamine said "Did you talk to her? Is she here?"

Corvo didn't answer with words. Instead, he inclined his head to indicate that Jessamine should turn around to look behind her. Jessamine turned around.

Beatrici was standing at the doorway, genuinely nervous for the first time in years, wearing a hesitant smile on her face.

And behind Beatrici was Daud.

You could almost see Jessamine's smile slide off her face and fall to the floor, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.

" _You,_ " she thundered, and charged towards him.

"No, wait! Stop!" Beatrici said, blocking Jessamine's way "Don't hurt him, please- "

"Hurt him? _Hurt him?_ " Jessamine repeated, in case anyone hadn't caught it the first time "After what he tried to do to me? To my family?"

"You don't have to worry about that anymore," Beatrici said softly "After all, he's a part of your family now too. He's...he's my husband."

* * *

Convenient flashback time! 

The Attanos and Kaldwin and Daud had settled into an uneasy, fragile truce on the voyage back to Dunwall, for the sake of convenience or at least, as much convenience you can have when you're sharing a limited space with some assassins that you'd rather not have to do that with.

Emily had not yet forgiven Daud for catching her hiding under his bed and frightening her and making her feel powerless, and she was determined to pay him back. She spent most of her time fantasizing about revenge schemes that involved her doing things that she was either physically incapable of doing, or things that her conscience would not permit her to. Sometimes, it was both. It was actually quite an enjoyable way of passing time.

Daud, to his credit had more or less moved past the whole incident. He was still mildly fascinated that Emily had waited under his bed for six hours and it certainly had coloured his opinion of her, but they weren't especially bad colours. He'd known some Whalers who could teleport large distances and stab large numbers of people but lacked the kind of patience and resilience that Emily had shown. On the other hand, hiding under someone's bed for more than fifteen minutes was completely insane in Daud's opinion, but he'd seen weirder things. As it was, he tried to keep out of Emily's way. He wasn't thrilled about the glares she'd been shooting at him.

Emily began to notice soon enough that Daud was avoiding her and slowly began testing him. He was good, though and never did anything as sloppy as leave just as Emily entered, or be seen what would essentially be him fleeing before her. The game they were playing was subtle and so tacit it barely even was tacit. 

Daud's mistake however was that he'd underestimated Emily. That and the fact that he barely cared about this (in stark contrast to Emily, who spent the day planning ambushes and convoluted strategies that never quite worked out). Unfortunately, Emily's best was matched by Daud at his most apathetic.

Until one day, when Emily realised that it was time to start scraping the bottom of the barrel. Daud's cabin didn't have a cabin. Only Emily's and the captain's had those. The crew had one and the rest had another. In summation, Emily spent a few hours waiting around the bathroom, masterfully deflecting the odd looks she was getting and as well as her father's questions, until finally, _finally,_  Daud showed up.

"The Knife Of Dunwall," Emily said, dramatically emerging from around a corner.

Daud was at a loss for responses to that, so he made an attempt to go to the loo. He really needed to.

"Did you know that as a child, I was terrified of you? I had nightmares about you. Covered in my mother's blood, coming to get me..."

"You don't have to worry anymore," Daud said trying to ignore the pangs of guilt he suddenly felt "I'm retired."  

"My mother would have to comfort me in the night, tell me not to worry, that the bad man was gone...how do you think she's going to react when she sees you?"

Daud frowned. "I need to go," He really did.

"All I'm saying is," Emily continued as if she hadn't heard him "I hope you have something worked out. I mean, _I_ believe that you're retired and done with murdering people for money...but do you think my mother will be? I hope you've got something worked out?"

"I'll think of something." Daud grunted. He was beginning to feel extremely uncomfortable and now it wasn't just his bladder.

"Will you, though? Will she believe it? Wait, I know!" she said, not waiting for any response "You could tell her that you and Beatrici are married! The main reason that my mother sent Corvo to Karnaca was so that she could meet his sister, our last remaining family. Imagine how happy she'll be to find out that there's _more_ family." Emily smiled sweetly.

"I'm not going to do that," Daud said, now visibly uneasy "I appreciate your concern, but I'm sure I can take care of myself. Now if you'll excuse me." He tried to not fling the door open and rush in to the toilet as soon as physically possible. 

At the exact moment that the door slammed shut, Emily had an epiphany. The perfect punishment for him making her feel helpless, she realised, was her making him feel uncomfortable. She had seen it in his usually inscrutable face, she could sense the I-want-to-go-ness in his voice. It all fell into place.

She didn't really expect him to use the Beatrici excuse, but it was fun to see him squirm about it. _He obviously has feelings for her_ , Emily smirked in the empty corridor as she thought about this. She stopped when it occurred to her that if things really worked out between them, Daud would be her uncle. She shuddered and made her way to her room. Some thoughts were best left untouched (unthought).

For the remainder of the voyage, Daud put more effort into avoiding Emily. He firmly believed that the idea of telling the Empress of the Isles that he was now her brother-in-law was something that should be confined to only the worst stress-induced nightmares.

* * *

"We're married." Beatrici repeated. (It felt more like she was insisting though). Daud stood beside her, trying to ignore Emily's smug smile.

Jessamine stared at them both uncomprehendingly.

"No, you're not," she finally said.

"We are," Beatrici insisted, openly this time. "Tell her," she said to Daud.

"We're not," Daud said.

Beatrici was outraged. She gasped to express this. "Daud! We talked about this!"

"Empress, we're not married. Beatrici wanted to tell you we were, because given the _nature_ of our relationship, we thought it.... _appropriate"_  


"Oh," Jessamine said somewhat weakly, "so you're..."

"We are." Daud answered, and then for a fraction of a second, glared at Emily.

"I should get dressed," Jessamine said. She was in her nightie. Her voluminous, frilly, comfortable white nightie.

"We'll leave you to it then," Daud said, nodding politely. He took Beatrici's hand and they left, leaving behind a stunned Corvo, a bewildered Jessamine and an extremely triumphant Emily. 

* * *

The minute Corvo and Jessamine entered her room, she rounded on him, demanding some explanation or answer. She hadn't really asked a question, but Corvo knew what she wanted to know. Too bad he didn't really know what was going on either.

"I didn't know either, Jessie," he finally said.

"But you were all on a _ship_ for two weeks!" Jessamine wailed "How- just- what?" she finally asked outright.

Corvo gave Jessamine a brief summary of the whole affair, how Daud seemed to have retired and had a wine farm and that was how he met Beatrici. Corvo told her how he'd suspected that there was something between the two of them, but that nothing had happened on the ship, or anywhere else.

"They probably wanted to keep it a secret from you," Jessamine pointed out "I can't imagine you took it too well when you saw him at your sister's house."

"I didn't," Corvo said sheepishly.

"So imagine how you would have reacted if you knew that they were lovers..."

"Don't say it like that!" Corvo groaned.

Jessamine smiled. "I missed you too, you know," she said.

"You're taking this quite well," Corvo said "Considering, you know, what he did,"

" _Tried_ to do." Jessamine corrected.

"Are you defending him?" Corvo asked.

"No, I'm not," she sighed "Since he's back here, and with what's happening, I need to tell you something,"

"You're scaring me Jessie, what is it?"

"During the trials for the conspirators, I got a message from him. Daud. He wanted to see me. He said he had something he wanted to say to me."

"And you didn't see him, right?"

"Corvo, I had to. It was haunting me. I couldn't stop wondering why he abandoned the plot, that was what kept me alive. So I met him, in the waterlock. I told him you were waiting nearby, and would come running if I called. He didn't mind. He told me that he'd be leaving Dunwall that afternoon and he wanted to see me before that. He told me why he left the conspiracy. He said he'd suddenly understood the consequences my death would have on Dunwall, and that all that blood would be on his hands. He told me that I was keeping the city together, and that I was its best hope. He said he truly regretted being a part of that plot and he apologised. He said he was retiring and that he'd had enough bloodshed. He said that I'd never see him again. And then he left."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Corvo asked.

"We were...we were all under a lot of stress, and this would just make things more complicated for us. We all knew he left the city and I wanted us to move past it. I believed him, though. He seemed sincere. We came across a lot of rotten, lying scum at those trials. He seemed to be the most honourable of all of them. Beatrici could do worse than him. I hope they're telling the truth. About _them_ "

Corvo gazed at Jessmine. She was always determined to see the best in people. 

"I love you," he told her. She smiled at him, and they kissed.

"I hope your sister is as happy as I am." Jessamine told him.

"I hope not" was something that Corvo wanted to say, but they were having a nice moment and he didn't want to spoil it. Jessamine seemed to have really low standards with regards to the people marrying into their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK that took way longer than it needed too! And for this you can blame me getting a lot of free time and using it to play Team Fortress 2 twenty-three hours a day. It has broken my brain. Emily waiting around a corner to ambush Daud is literally what I've been doing as a Pyro. So yeah. Expect future chapters to update at this rate now. 
> 
> And I'm using the Fake Dating trope with Daud and Beatrici! Get ready to experience my take on it, and be subjected to me writing romance. It's...probably not going to be that good, I'm not the best with romance, but hopefully it's entertaining enough that you can bear with me.
> 
> Also, Emily trolled Daud hard in this chapter and I enjoyed writing that.


	8. Security Is Breached

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daud meets an old friend. Two guards' work/vacation is horribly ruined. Jessamine's headache won't abate.

Beatrici wasn't as happy as Jessamine. She wasn't happy at all. As soon as the doors swung shut behind them, Daud let go of her hand. This wasn't what upset her. 

Daud had said nothing since Jessamine and Corvo left. This reticence did not have a great effect on her mood.

"Silence won't work, you know," she cautioned him, out of nowhere.

Daud politely feigned ignorance.

"I did what you asked me to, Daud, I told them we were married. And I also told you that they wouldn't believe it! I only did it because you asked me, you insisted -"  she stopped when she realised she was beginning to yell. 

Daud said nothing in response.

"Look," she said, turning to face him, her eyes narrowing "you're giving me some kind of explanation for this."

"I...I'm sorry about what transpired earlier, " Daud said, with surprising contriteness. "You were right, no one would believe that we're married. But when you start off with something as big as that..."

Beatrici nodded. It was a negotiating tactic that had paid for much of her tasteful furniture. He could have told her beforehand though.

A painful silence followed in which both of them contemplated the outlandishness of the idea of them actually being married, all while still looking at each other, trying to think of something appropriate to say. Fortunately for all of us, Emily crept out of the residence. She'd had her ear pressed to the door the entire time and sensed an opportune moment to further humiliate Daud. 

"Mother left you in such a rush, I'm really sorry," she said beaming politely. "Let me show you to your room."

"Room," Daud repeated, eyebrows slightly raised. Beatrici didn't really care either way. Sharing a bed with Daud would be delightful, but she knew she wouldn't have the patience to deal with the ensuing gossip. 

"Yes, room," Emily said. This was the third time the word 'room' had been used consecutively in a sentence and it was now threatening to lose all meaning.

"The place where you'll be sleeping. They have four walls, a ceiling, a bed..." she added for clarification.

Beatrici found that she had no patience for this exchange, let alone a scandal. 

"For- " she began before stopping herself. "Show me to my room, Emily." she sighed.

They began walking down the corridor. Daud did not accompany them. Emily looked over her shoulder questioningly.

"I'm going to visit my apartment," he explained. "I'll stay there."

That stumped Emily. The Knife Of Dunwall, loose on the streets of the city (of Dunwall!)...did not seem like a good thing.

"You, I think you should ask my mother first" she finally said, with all the firmness and certainty of a small child.

Daud smiled grimly.

* * *

 One of the last things Daud had done before he had left Dunwall for good was sink some funds into a spacious, airy apartment somewhere near the Estate District. It didn't work out like these things normally do. The apartment in question was, at the time, a plague-infested shithole. The money had gone towards hiring the services of some capable-seeming local thugs to make sure no one else claimed the apartment. When the city-wide restoration projects began, the apartment was rebuilt, refurbished and once again a place that people would swindle each other to live in. The thugs had forged a deed for it. That they prompted sent to Daud by post (he was paying them good money, so there was no sense in betraying him. Also they were terrified of him).. Soon after this, they made a fortune off selling illegal deeds to some restored flats and became respectable real-estate people, before they became too wealthy to work. One of them had become a Lady now.

Daud remarked at how pristine and gleaming the place was, as he walked into the hall. Dunwall didn't have to worry about everything in sight being covered by layers of dust.

He used his tethering ability to move his luggage under the bed. He was just about to flop onto the bed when he heard a noise that seemed to be coming into the bathroom.

"Show yourself," Daud growled, his hand reaching for a knife he didn't have.

A woman in a hood emerged from the bathroom.

"I knew you'd be here," she said. 

This was a lie. She'd been squatting there for the past few days and hid in the bathroom when she heard the door being unlocked.

Daud hadn't heard that voice in almost ten years.

* * *

Duncan had thus far been enjoying his time at Dunwall. A new location (and an Imperial one at that), different food, different air...this was just what he needed. People in Dunwall often complained about the gloomy weather,. Duncan shook his head. They'd clearly never set foot in Morley. He was unaware of the fact that people in Tyvia thought the same of Morley. 

His job was relatively easy too. All he had to do was guard the door to the room that contained Queen Isobel's belongings. This was almost a ceremonial position. The City Watch did most of the real work guarding the tower as they so often reminded him in a I'm-joking-except-not-really-you're-actually-useless way.

He was in his seat, and had just awoken with a start, after a satisfying breakfast. His partner Leticia was also asleep, snoring softly with her head tilted to the left.

He unlocked the door to do a round of the room. This was also ceremonial, because the door had no windows and only he and a City Watch Officer had the key, but he did it anyway.

When he went in, he found the box that contained Jessamine's wedding gift diamond missing.

He wasn't actually supposed to know that it existed. Isobel had revealed it to Jessamine in secret. But Duncan and Leticia couldn't help but overhear. Maybe they could have if they'd have put more effort into it, but they didn't and so here we are.

This was Duncan's dilemma. How was he supposed to report the theft of an extremely valuable valuable, when he wasn't supposed to be aware of said valuable's existence. He didn't know what to do.

He woke up Leticia and told her about the disappearance of the diamond. She didn't know what to do either. They looked at each other anxiously, racking their brains for answers, all while tacitly agreeing to not speak of it unless someone noticed that it was missing. Yesterday was the first time anyone went near it, after all.

Edith inadvertently overheard this exchange while unsuccessfully trying to spy on the queen in the next room( (she wasn't there), and she knew exactly what to do.

* * *

"What do you want, Billie?" Daud asked, lighting a cigarette. His first in quite a while.

"You got my note, then," Billie said, throwing her hood back.

"Yes, I did. Did you hurt your hand writing it?" Daud asked. The note was one line, two sentences.

"This is no laughing matter," Billie said with a smirk.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

" _'They're back.'_ you said. So what are they doing?" Daud asked, getting rather impatient now. He would be very angry if this whole thing had been a waste of his time.

"OK, when I said that, I might have been exaggerating a little, but - "

"-Billie, _Billie_ ," he said more sternly, cutting her off. "I understand your...aversion to them, but it's beneath you to jump at shadows. I taught you better."

Billie looked ashamed. Let me take this second-long lull in the conversation to fill you in on what's happening here. Ten years ago (it always comes back to that), during Daud's Brigmore adventure, (in which the witch Delilah tried to possess Daud into murdering Jessamine's family, and of course Jessamine through a painting of him) it transpired that Billie had been planning to work with Delilah to depose Daud and take over the Whalers. When it all came together, however, Billie found that she couldn't bring herself to betray him (and in any case, Daud wasn't in the mood to be deposed). Daud should have killed her, to make an example but he found that he couldn't bring _himself_ to do that and instead exiled her. He didn't take the whole thing too well, all things considered. It was one of the reasons he'd retired.

A few years later, Billie tracked down Daud and began writing to him. They kept in touch, although they'd never met. Billie hadn't take the whole thing too well, either. She developed an intense hatred for the Brigmore coven and tried to keep an eye on all the former witches she could, even though they'd scattered. She recently saw a few of them in Dunwall however, and immediately sent a panicked, melodramatic missive to Daud. He didn't know any of this. He just saw the 'them' in the note and made a guess. He was right.

"They don't have any power anymore," Daud continued. "You know what happened to Delilah, where she is now. She can't ever come back. And they'll never get their powers back."

Billie felt slightly more calm now.

"I suppose," she conceded, "But some of them have come back here from who knows where. I don't like it. Have they come for the Empress? Assault her at her own wedding? And she doesn't even know about them, about Delilah, how much they hate her...we should warn her."

Daud felt slightly uneasy now. He gave Billie another 'whoa there, let's all just slow down here for a bit' talk.

"I'm a guest at the tower," he told Billie. "I'll take care of it,"

Billie had no doubt that he would. She had to do something.

* * *

Jessamine was draining another mug of coffee when the doors to her study burst open and Edith came through, slightly out of breath.

"Take a seat," Jessamine said. She wanted more coffee.

Edith sat down across the table from Jessamine and caught her breath.

"The diamond," she panted, "Gone,"

"What?" Jessamine asked, even though she already knew.

"Queen Isobel's diamond, her wedding gift to you, it's not in the room. I overheard the guards. They patrolled the room and found it missing. They aren't going to tell anyone. They aren't even supposed to know about it."

"This is not good," Jessamine sighed. Her headache had come back. "If her own guards aren't going to tell her...we won't either...for a while...it's for Isobel..." she was convincing herself aloud. Edith was hoping that Jessamine would opt for this path.

"And in the meanwhile, we are going to find it, and bring it back. No one will have to know. No one needs to know. A breach of security like this, in Dunwall Tower...the papers would have a field day, and so close to the wedding. And I think I know someone who can track it down for us."

"You do?" Edith asked, genuinely intrigued. Most of the staff at Dunwall Tower exhibited varying degrees of incompetence on a daily basis.

"Keep an eye on those two guards for me, will you? If they talk to anyone about this, I want to be the first to know."

"Yes, Empress."

"Oh, and Edith?" Jessamine asked. "Ask Beatrici to bring Daud back here, please? I'd like to have a word with him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daud is going to be a detective while meeting up with Billie and having to deal with Beatrici...I'm making his storyline a clusterfuck, basically and it's so much fun.
> 
> I can't imagine Daud and Beatrici sharing a bed. Yet.
> 
> Introducing this chapter, a jewel theft plot. The only thing missing is that the diamond isn't cursed. At this point, I'm just throwing plotlines at the wall. 
> 
> I watched a 9 hour video of Dishonored 2 so you can expect the rest of this fic to incorporate the mood of Karnaca, if nothing else. I don't mention it in the fic, but the weather in Dunwall is always sunny, and Daud's apartment looks a lot like the ones in Karnaca. Anyway happy reading!
> 
> [8 DECEMBER 2016] EDIT: I'm going on a hiatus for a while and I will try my best to update, but it's not going to happen anytime soon, I'm sorry.


End file.
